Cedar Grove school lockdown over; woman arrested

ByStaff reports

CEDAR GROVE, W.Va. -- State Police have arrested a woman who was the focus of a lockdown at Cedar Grove Community School on Tuesday.

Christy Jarrell, 29, turned herself in to state troopers at the 7-Eleven convenience store in Rand at about 2:30 p.m. on a petit larceny warrant for allegedly stealing a gun, said State Police Sgt. J.D. Perry of the Quincy detachment.

Jarrell's sister called Cedar Grove Community School on Tuesday morning because Jarrell had apparently been saying she was going to go to the school to get her children. The school was locked down a little after 8:30 a.m.

"We had someone call the school and say that a person is out of control and not in the right mind set and had plans to go to the school. They didn't know what they would do, so we're on precautionary lock-down," Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Ron Duerring said Tuesday morning.

State Police Sgt. Larry O'Bryan of the Quincy detachment said Jarrell's sister apparently called the school because she was worried Jarrell would take the gun to school.

But Jarrell never went to the school, and no gun ever appeared. "There was never any threat to the school or the children," Perry said. A trooper was stationed at the school throughout the day as a precaution.

Jarrell's arrest was not directly linked to the lockdown, which was lifted before the end of the school day. She was expected to be arraigned Tuesday evening.